Puny god.
Its not just a bit of iconic, oxymoronic Hulk-speakits shorthand for the most important moment in Loki Laufeysons fictional life. That line, from 2012s Avengers, is muttered by Mark Ruffalos big green rage monster just seconds after unleashing one of superhero cinemas most satisfyingly memorable beatdowns, turning Tom Hiddlestons supremely arrogant godling, whos spent the film smugly lording his superiority over an entire planet, into a divine chew toy whose biggest impact on the universe is likely to be the dents his battered body leaves in Tony Starks penthouse floors. The accompanying reaction shot, which sees Hiddleston make full use of his big eyes and elastic face to convey a profound sense of What the fuck just happened to me? not only cements the truth that Lokis pretensions of master villainy were just another self-imposed illusion: They also make it clear that theres as much cartoon character lurking in his DNA as frost giant. Lying in a Loki-shaped hole, hes not, and never could be, the Big Bad of anything. Instead, hes the Marvel Cinematic Universes answer to the greatest pompous, prissy, perennial pop culture loser of all time: Daffy Duck.
Dont believe us? Watch Hiddlestons body language in the opening moments of his brand new Disney+ show, which sees the renegade Asgardian shoved through an assembly line of bureaucratic trapdoors and contraptions so slapstick it might as well have Raymond Scotts Powerhouse playing underneath it. Beset on all sides by a universe of absurdity, Hiddleston lets his chops as a physical comedian come to the forefront, with every attempt to re-assert his dignity, whether with a haughty look or an accusing finger pointed toward the sky, met with an even heartier smack back down from the powers that be. Its the puny god moment in miniature, and repeated ad infinitumand a classic page from the book of Mel Blancs endlessly put-upon water fowl, the master of asserting I deserve respect! in the face of a universe that keeps giving him a definitive, cheerfully callous Nah.
Part of the joy of Loki is in seeing Hiddleston let this part of the character come to the forefront, playing into the insecure goofball peeking out underneath all that arrogance, sneering, and big, pointy hats. Its a register hes gotten to work in beforemost notably in Taika Waititis Thor: Ragnarokbut never with as much flop-sweaty silliness as when shoved into the hands of the Time Variance Authority, an organization that treats the presumptive god-king with all the indifference with which he so casually dismissed all those pathetic earthlings. Hiddleston can turn the aristocratic blue blood on and off like hes got it on tap, and his cycle of failures in Glorious Purpose is a minor masterclass in puffing up a prodigious ego, only to deflate it like a collapsing whoopee cushion every time hes reminded how unimportant he actually is to the universe at large.
Owen Wilsons Agent Mobius says as much, during the extended interview that makes up the bulk of Lokis first episode. An apparent scholar of everybodys favorite adopted Asgardian, Mobius has accurately pegged Lokis role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Hes the heel, the guy who loses to make other people better. (The Daffy, to return to the metaphor, to the various Avengers Bugs.) Its a kind of purgatory to be trapped in, one that the god himself views in fast-motion when left to watch the future hes inadvertently ducked out on: Loss, loss, redemption and then one more, terminal, loss, a final sacrifice to ensure his doofus brother has a proper motivation to fight when the Infinity Warrolls around. But theres a paradoxical sort of power in the part of the perpetual loser, too, one that Hiddleston, and Loki, seem eager to tap into. After all, who actually likes Bugs Bunny?
Its not easy to be an underdog in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a world where even plucky, poor Peter Parker is the hand-picked scion of the planets richest man. The only way to be a lovable loser, in other words, is to actually lose, and thats an advantage Lokis got the market cornered on. (Actually surviving all his encounters with various superheroes probably helps; being an MCU villain is a good trick, as the old saying goes, but you can usually only do it once.) Lokis spent the last nine years as a literal punching bag for Earths mightiest heroes, dusting himself off again and again despite all. Sure, hes a jerkand, as Mobius pointedly returns to, more than once, a killerbut that mostly just means its easier to see our own inner Daffys reflected back at us through him. Combine that with his other great advantageHiddleston himself, whos spent the better part of a decade finding all the silly, scary, sad, human edges to the character that he puts on display in Glorious Purposeand you have what might be the biggest paradox of them all: A world where Daffy Duckor his nearest puny, but divine, equivalentmight actually score a win.
